Jib This: Mt. Bachelor Overhauls Terrain Parks

The terrain parks at Mt. Bachelor were priority number one this offseason. The ski area dumped dollars into the purchase of new grooming equipment, gave the parks new names and plans to add more unique features for this winter.

The terrain parks accounted for a major chunk of Mt. Bachelor's capital expenditures for this winter, The resort purchased two Prinoth Bison X grooming machines to improve park grooming and maintenance.

"The Bison X snowcats will be a big asset as they are made for building parks and have a wide range of motion in the blade and tiller," Manager of Bachelor Parks Hames Ellerbe said.

Mt. Bachelor maintains six parks. One includes smaller features for groms learning to ride parks. The other five parks pepper the slopes with medium and large features.

Bachelor Parks will now have new names as well as new features. Photo by Abe Blair. Courtesy of Mt. Bachelor Resort.

This summer, the resort held a contest to rename the parks, replacing their P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5 names with something relevant to Oregon. The winning suggestion drew a parallel between riding in the parks and surfing the Oregon Coast—naming the parks for popular surf breaks and beaches.

The new names for the medium- and large-feature parks are now The Front, Seaside, Pacific City and Cannon Beach. Those parks can be accessed via the Skyliner Express. The grom park, which is reached by riding Sunrise Express, is now called Short Sands.

The resort also plans to change up the parks. "We will be moving the main park entrance to create a better flow when the rider’s enter the park," Ellerbe said. "There will also be several chill zones for riders to hang out and watch the other riders throughout the park."

Ellerbe has created 14 new rails, jibs, bonks, walls and boxes and plans to build another six to 10 before the season starts.

"The new features are very street-influenced and will for the most part be located in Seaside," Ellerbe said.

Some of the new features include things Ellerbe has scoured from around Mt. Bachelor. They include a transformer box, Jersey barriers, propane tanks, bike racks, a raised lift tower set in the middle of a box, a chain link fence wall and light posts.

Mt. Bachelor also has maintained two halfpipes, which include a 400-foot-long competition-level pipe. This year, Ellerbe is adding one more pipe--a mini pipe in Pacific City.